Tag Archives: build a wall

International news

Now he’s a ‘great guy’

bbxo0nc

Carlos Slim is a “great guy,” says Donald J. Trump.

Hey, wait! We all thought he was a tool of the Democratic Party. Isn’t that what the president-elect said of the Mexican gazillionaire? Didn’t he disparage Slim because of made-up suspicions about the U.S. presidential election being “rigged” against Trump?

Not so. Apparently.

Trump and Slim had dinner the other night at Trump’s Florida resort. They had a good time. Trump and Slim now are BFFs.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-now-says-carlos-slim-a-frequent-campaign-target-is-a-great-guy/ar-BBxnNkm?li=BBnb7Kz

So help me, my head is spinning. I cannot even begin to keep up with the way Trump turns enemies into friends. How he manages to take back all those angry and reprehensible things he says about others.

For his part, Slim had been critical of Trump’s policies toward Mexico, such as his plan to build that wall across the nations’ border. Now he says Trump’s presidency will mean success for Mexico.

Politics has this way of making people switch positions on a dime. Which view are we supposed to believe?

national news, political news

Shocking! Trump was kidding about locking Hillary up

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - DECEMBER 9: President-elect Donald Trump waves to the crowd as he arrives onstage at the DeltaPlex Arena, December 9, 2016 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. President-elect Donald Trump is continuing his victory tour across the country. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Donald J. Trump didn’t mean it. He was kidding. He never intended to “lock up” Hillary Rodham Clinton over her use of a personal e-mail server.

Wow! Can you believe it? He said it was a ploy to win votes.

Interesting, yes? I think so.

Now I’m wondering what else the president-elect said just to sway voters to cast their ballots for him.

Does he really intend to build a wall across our southern border? Does he actually intend to ban Muslims from entering the United States of America? The “deportation force” is a joke, too?

Trump has acknowledged already that those hideous things he said about women were for “entertainment” purposes. Gosh, I still haven’t stop laughing. Thanks, Donald, for the hilarity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-clinton-lock-her-up_us_584b5b53e4b04c8e2bb01274?

This all seems to play into the narrative that developed not long after the election, which is that you can’t take Trump’s statements literally. When he said he knows “more about ISIS than the generals,” we’re supposed to brush it off as — what — just campaign rhetoric? When he called President Obama the “founder of ISIS,” that was meant to draw applause from those yuuuuge rallies?

As for the so-called pledge to toss Hillary Clinton in jail, many of his ardent supporters accepted as the gospel according to Trump. “Lock  her up!” they chanted repeatedly.

Oh, my. We’re going to have to parse the new president’s words with great care … and even greater skepticism.

national news, political news

There goes ‘divided government’

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Republicans in Congress used to extol the virtues of “divided government,” when they controlled Capitol Hill while a Democrat and his family were residing down the street in the White House.

Guess what. Divided government is about to be tossed into the crapper. On Jan. 20, a Republican — Donald J. Trump — will take the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States; meanwhile, the GOP will retain control of Congress, although with slightly diminished majorities.

But we’re going to have one party in charge of everything.

Oh, boy!

The last time one party ran the whole show was from 2009 to 2011. Democrats were the big dog. What did they do when they ran the government? Oh, the 111th Congress — along with the president — managed to save the nation from total economic collapse, despite many Republicans’ best efforts to stop them.

Then the GOP took over both congressional chambers and began obstructing just about everything the Democratic president, Barack Obama, sought to do.

What lies in store for the new GOP president and his fellow Republicans who run Congress? That might depend on how well Democrats learned the obstructionist practices of their “friends on the other side of the aisle.”

Trump intends to do a few things that are anathema to Democrats. He wants to repeal environmental protection laws; he wants to toss aside the Affordable Care Act — although he now says he hopes to save the strongest portions of it; he intends to “build a wall” across our southern border; he hopes to ban Muslims from entering the United States of America.

I believe Trump once also said he intends to make department store owners force their employees to wish their customers a “Merry Christmas” during the holidays. Government overreach? Uh, yeah!

In each of these cases, I am all for a little obstruction. I trust Democrats have learned their lessons well from their Republican colleagues.

national news, political news

Where have the issues gone?

hillary-clinton-and-donald-trump

Is it just me or has anyone else out there noticed something about the presidential campaign’s home stretch?

It’s the absence of issues debate.

Republican nominee Donald J. Trump opened his campaign more than a year ago declaring his intention to “build a beautiful wall” across our southern border; he said he would make Mexico “pay for it,” to which Mexico said, in effect, “over our dead body.”

Then came the ban on Muslims entering the United States; Trump then pledged to “knock the hell” out of the Islamic State. Then came the pledge to invalidate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

We aren’t hearing anything about those or other issues from Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Clinton opened her campaign vowing to work on behalf of women and children. She vowed to continue building international alliances. Clinton pledged to put her husband, Bill Clinton, in charge of crafting economic policy and to improve economic growth to “benefit all Americans.”

We’re talking now about temperament and fitness, about sexual behavior or misbehavior, a candidate’s “stamina.”

It’s personal, boys and girls — and it’s damn ugly.

It is so ugly I want it to end right now.

International news, national news, political news

Mexico outraged over Trump’s wall proposal

wall

Donald J. Trump’s impromptu visit to Mexico went well.

Don’t you think?

Me neither.

The Republican presidential nominee flew to Mexico City and met behind closed doors with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. They talked about illegal immigration, but apparently did not discuss that “big, beautiful wall” that Trump wants to extend along the countries’ border.

Now comes word from Mexico that the plan is “outrageous” and that Mexico isn’t going to pay a nickel for it, as Trump insists they should.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mexico-calls-trump-wall-plan-outrageous-after-visit/ar-AAinv5Z?li=BBnb7Kz

So, where do we stand?

I believe we are precisely at the same point we were prior to Trump’s visit.

As near as I can figure, one sovereign country cannot dictate to another sovereign country how to spend its money. So, if the United States is going to demand that Mexico pay for construction of a wall, then Mexico is within its legal authority to refuse.

Here’s how Reuters reported an exchange between Trump and Pena Nieto: “On Twitter early on Thursday, Trump wrote, ‘Mexico will pay for the wall!’

“That prompted a Twitter reply from Pena Nieto later in the day: ‘I repeat what I told you personally Mr. Trump, Mexico would never pay for a wall.'”

This is Donald Trump’s view of international diplomacy.

“Yes, you will. No we won’t. Yes, you will, or else! I dare you to invoke the ‘or else.'”

Do you see how this is a ridiculous notion?

Trump’s build-a-wall theme played well to the Republican Party voter base that propelled him to the GOP nomination. He’s got those folks in his hip pocket.

The rest of the country? The voters of Latin American heritage who are becoming increasingly infuriated at Trump’s anti-Mexico rhetoric? Independent voters?

Whatever the GOP nominee hoped to accomplish with those folks has now, I believe, been flushed away.

political news, State news

Build a wall along a river? How do you do that?

2 Comments

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My friend Rick has asked a perfectly reasonable question regarding the wall that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump wants to build along our nation’s southern border.

How’s he going to do that, Rick asks, along the Rio Grande River, which comprises the entire border between Texas and Mexico?

He points out three obstacles facing Trump’s plan to build that wall:

* Does he build the wall on the Texas side of the river, denying Texans access to the river?

* Does the wall go up in the middle of the river?

* Finally, does Trump propose to build the wall on the Mexican side of the river, in territory governed by another sovereign nation?

Trump is going to Mexico City on Wednesday to meet with Mexico’s president.

He’s got some serious fence-mending ahead of him.

If he’s willing to apologize for all the insults he has hurled at Mexican citizens — and remember, he says he never apologizes — then he’s got to figure out a way to explain to his hosts how he intends to make Mexico pay for the wall.

I believe I’ve heard the Mexicans say there’s no way on God’s Earth that they’re going to foot the bill for the wall.

Travel safely, Donald.

national news, political news

Let’s await the next plan on immigration

On-Immigration-Trump-Appears-To-Shift-Focus-To-Getting-Rid-Of-The-Bad-Ones-Politics-696x391

Donald J. Trump has a big speech planned this week.

The Republican presidential nominee is going to lay out his latest plan for dealing with illegal immigration.

I can hardly wait to hear what it is. Well, actually … I can wait.

The Trump immigration plan has been all over creation since the candidate rode down the escalator this past summer at Trump Tower to announce his presidential campaign.

We’ll build a wall; we’re going to make Mexico pay for it; we’ll deport all the illegal immigrants; we’ll ban Muslims from entering the country; we’ll make America “great again.”

Then in recent days he began to “soften” his approach. He might not deport all those 11 million immigrants. But he’ll still build the wall. The deportation scheme resurfaced, but it will be done “humanely.” We’ll make the immigrants “follow the law.”

Do you see a pattern here?

Neither do I … except that this clown has no clue about what kind of policy he wants to initiate as president of the United States.

I believe, too, he’s back to deporting the illegal immigrants through the deployment of what he has described as a “deportation force.”

The greatest unknown in all of this is its cost. How much is all this going to cost the U.S. Treasury, which Trump and other critics of the Obama administration say is stretched beyond its limit. We’ve rolled up all that debt, Trump says.

So, do we acquire even more debt, borrow even more money — or do we slash, if not eliminate, other essential government programs to pay for this plan? Which programs do we toss aside?

And precisely how is he going to “get Mexico to pay for the wall”?

We haven’t heard a single detail in any of this.

I’m all ears.

International news, national news, political news

Trump’s ‘softening’ stance on immigration carries huge risk

trump-campaign-signals-possible-shift-on-immigration-stance-1471865686-3208

Donald J. Trump’s apparent — and it’s not quite clear — decision to pull back from his signature issue while running for the Republican presidential nomination is, to borrow a word, y-u-u-u-g-e!

But not in the way the GOP nominee perhaps is expecting.

Trump rode down that escalator at Trump Tower in the summer of 2015 to announce his presidential campaign and declared right out of the chute that he plans to “build a wall” across our southern border with Mexico. He said the Mexican government is sending “rapists, murderers, drug dealers” into the United States, adding “and I’m sure there are some good ones, too.”

He also announced his plan to deport every single one of the 11-12 million people who reportedly are here illegally. He was going to send them back.

What about the children who were born in this country? Family unity? Forget about it! “The illegals” are going back!

The response from the Republican Party base voters was, well, astonishing. They loved it. They adored and embraced their guy for “telling it like is.” No more political correctness, they said; we won’t tolerate it.

It got him the GOP nomination fair and square. Now, though, he’s struggling with the rest of the electorate. His cure to end the struggle is to sound as if he’s taking back the single issue that marked him as the “future of the Republican Party.”

How’s that going to play among the GOP base bloc that is standing by its man. I know a few of them here in the Texas Panhandle. I’m waiting to hear their response.

Will they continue to support the guy, the man with zero government experience, zero public service record, zero idea of what the U.S. Constitution allows the president to do, zero demonstrated interest in a single thing except personal enrichment?

The TEA Party wing of the GOP has wrapped its arms around Trump to date because of his rejection of what they call the “status quo.” What say those folks now?

As for the rest of the voters whose support he is seeking, they likely understand what is transpiring. Donald Trump has no clue about how to develop a cogent, coherent immigration policy. They are witnessing a desperate attempt to make sense out of nonsense.

national news, political news, religious news

Religion collides with politics

B-5

Didn’t someone once suggest that you shouldn’t ever discuss religion and politics?

Here we are, then. Talking about both things in the same sentence.

Pope Francis I decided to weigh in with remarks about Republican presidential frontrunner Donald J. Trump’s proposal to build a wall across our southern border to keep illegal immigrants from entering the United States.

Anyone who’d propose such a thing, the pontiff, said isn’t a Christian.

Trump fired back. Trump called the pope’s view “disgraceful” and said, by golly, he’s a devout Christian.

Others on the right are criticizing the pope for engaging in this political discussion in the first place. Who is this guy? they wonder. What qualifies him to comment on the American political system?

Let’s take a breath.

Maybe the pope made his statement in Spanish, or Italian, or Latin and it got mistranslated.

Surely, too, he isn’t the first public figure — American or otherwise — to drag religion into a campaign for a secular political office. U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy faced intense suspicion over his Catholic faith in the 1960 campaign and he ended up dispelling much of it with a speech in Houston in which he said he’d follow the Constitution and would not — contrary to allegations — be a puppet for the Vatican.

And there have been others as well.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the pope — a renowned international public figure — to weigh in on a U.S. public policy discussion. He’s entitled to his view.

It’s that it has ignited a firestorm that makes me uncomfortable when I hear politicians feeling forced to defend their religious beliefs while seeking an office to which they will take an oath to protect and defend a wholly secular document.

That would be the Constitution of the United States.

 

State news

Kinky had it right about a wall

Kinbky Friedman - 1

I found a blog post I’d written in July 2010.

I said then that “I miss Kinky Friedman.” Why? Because despite his seemingly unserious bid to become Texas governor in 2006, the Texas humorist, musician and gadfly actually made sense.

Here’s the blog post: Kinky’s rant

He opposed the idea of building a wall along our southern border. He said that with the trouble brewing five years ago in the United States, Americans might want out — and a wall would make it more difficult for us to escape.

I mention Kinky today because the current crop of Republican presidential primary candidates is sounding quite ridiculous, particularly as they seek to outflank the GOP front runner, Donald Trump, on this immigration matter.

Trump says he’ll build a “beautiful wall.” Not to be outdone, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he’d consider building a wall between the United States and Canada.

Let’s get serious here. Or else, let’s draft Kinky Friedman to run for president.